Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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3275. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons employed in July 2022, 2023 and 2024 in community psychiatry, community psychology and community CAMHS areas in County Cork by area; and the positions recruited since January 2025 in County Cork in these sectors. [44283/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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3276. To ask the Minister for Health the current waiting list for CAMHS services in County Cork by area; the average waiting time; and his plans to address this. [44284/25]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I recently commenced a series of visits to all HSE Regional Health Areas to meet with the Regional Executive Officers and their staff to focus on improvements to all aspects of Youth Mental Health care, to identify areas where increased activity is needed, and also areas of innovative and positive service delivery.

I conveyed in my meeting with the HSE South West Regional Executive Officer and his leadership team that reducing the waiting list for CAMHS is one of my main priorities as Minister for Mental Health. The Programme for Government makes several commitments relating to CAMHS, including a commitment to providing additional resources to reduce CAMHS waiting lists.

The HSE South West region had 1,016 children waiting to be seen by CAMHS as of June last, which represents 23% of the national waiting list for CAMHS. Of most concern to me is that 123 children in the HSE South West region were waiting more than 18 months to be seen. In total, 332 children were waiting more than 12 months to be seen, which is unacceptable to me as Minister.

The HSE South West has been allocated €420,000 in Waiting List Initiative funding for CAMHS for 2025. This funding is intended to reduce the waiting list by 175 cases.

Following my visit however, I was concerned that this funding may not be targeted to the teams with the most challenging waiting lists, or to teams with children who were waiting longest. As Minister, it is important to me that when I secure additional resources for specific purposes that they are used to achieve the desired outcomes.

Furthermore, I was concerned about vacancies in the Region. I asked local HSE to prioritise the advertising and recruitment of these posts as a matter of urgency and to ensure that the proper systems are in place to fill routine vacancies in a timely manner in the future.

Arising from my visit, I subsequently wrote to the Regional Executive Officer in HSE South West and asked him to ensure that:

• Intensive support will be provided to the teams with the highest waiting lists to support them to eliminate waiting times in excess of 12 months.
• That ‘Wait List Initiative’ funding will be used to target the removal of children waiting the longest (i.e. more than 12 months).
• That CAMHS vacancies in the region will be prioritised for immediate recruitment, and that vacant/cover/backfill posts will be prioritised for CAMHS on an ongoing basis to avoid capacity issues contributing to wait list growth.
• That within 3 months of my visit no child or young person will be waiting longer than 18 months in any CAMHS team in the region.
• That within 6 months no child or young person will be waiting longer than 12 months in any CAMHS team.
• That the waiting list for children and young people for psychological interventions in primary care will be addressed as a priority to ensure timely access to interventions, and to reduce the pressure these wait times are having on the CAMHS service.